Today in History

1834 - Northern chiefs meet at Waitangi to choose a national flag, from three suggestions drawn up by the Church Missionary Society. They adopt the design known as the United Tribes ensign, incorporating the flag of the Anglican diocese of New South Wales into the Royal Navy’s white ensign.

1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is published.

1854 - Former members of the US Whig Party meet in Wisconsin to establish a new party, which becomes the Republican Party.

1933 - SS leader Heinrich Himmler announces creation of Germany’s first concentration camp, at Dachau.

1965 - US President Lyndon Johnson notifies Alabama’s governor that he will send federal troops to protect a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, to be led by the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

1969 - Beatle John Lennon marries Japanese artist Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

1987 - The sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of Aids patients, is approved in the US.

1995 - Packages of deadly sarin gas are set off in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 people and injuring more than 5000.

2019 - The Walt Disney Company acquires

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox entertainment business for US$71 billion. 2020 - Star NFL quarterback Tom Brady signs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after 20 years with the New England Patriots.

Birthdays

Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (18281906); Vera Lynn, English singer/actress (1917-2020); Lee “Scratch” Perry, Jamaican musician/inventor (1936-2021); Phil Judd, NZ musician (1953-); Spike Lee, US film-maker (1957-); Lawrence Makoare, NZ actor (1968-); Keven Mealamu, All Black (1979-); Rory Fallon, NZ footballer (1982-).